Baby-nipple protector



L. E. MARSH. BABY NIPPLE PROTECTOR. APPLICATION man MAY 26. 1919.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

LEON E. MARSH, DE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

BABY-NIPPLE PROTECTOR.

/ Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

Application filed May 26, 1919. Serial No. 9 9,706.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, LEON E. MARSH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Baby-Nipple Protector, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to nipples used in conjunction with so-called wide-neck bottles.

One object of this invention is to protect such nipples from collapsing and from being pushed into the wide neck of bottles.

Another object is to make sure that a child can draw its milk from the bottle.

Another object is to hold the nipple always in practically its normal position so as to prevent unnecessary tear and Wear on the material of such nipple.

Other objects will appear from the following description and appended claims as well as from the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is a sectional view of the device on line ll of Fig. 2 in its proper position inserted between the top end of a Wide neck bottle and below the nipple.

- the bottle. The main body 7 of the nipple Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device.

3 designates a fragmentary sectional view of the neck end of a milk bottle as commonly used for sucking babies. The nipple 4 is of the type used over thewide neck of such milk-bottles, the beaded edge 5 of the nipple engaging over the beaded upper edge 6 of is normally narrow enough so that it has to be stretched over the top end of the bottle as at 8, thereby forming a tight joint between the nipple and the bottle.

Since the neck of the bottle is so wide and the nipple proportionally small it is common that the baby pushes the nipple into the neck of the bottle thereby placing or putting the nipple beyond the reach of such small child. To prevent this, a form or suitable member is disposed between the nipple and the bottle. Such member can, of course, be of a great variety of slightly modified forms without departing from the principle of the device or invention, only one form being illustrated in the drawing,

but it will easily be understood that I do not necessarily have to limit myself to this one form as'long as the principle of the invention is similar in such device.

In the drawing, the device consists mainly of the outer lower ring 9, the center body 10 and the connecting arms 11. The arms 11 are suitably curved and formed to nearly follow the formof the nipple so as to practically hold the nipple always in its normal position outside of the bottle neck. The center body 10 is a suitabledistance above the top end of the bottle preferably only spaced enough from the inside of the nipple to allow the sucking action on the nipple. The lower ring 9 is naturally clamped between the top end of the bottle and the stretched portion of the nipple at 8. Thus the device does notv cause any friction to the bottle, nor to the nipple,.nor to the sucking baby, as will easily be understood, only preventing the nipple from collapsing or from coming out of shape.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a wide-neck milk bottle and a baby nipple having a wide portion and a nipple proper, a protecting member disposed between the top end of the bottle and the inside of the nipple comprising a flange-portion of a form to come between the nipple and the top end of bottle pressed against the top of the bottle by the tension of the nipple and having integral with the flange a supporting and protecting portion for the wide portion of the nipple just below the nipple proper extending centrally and upwardly into the wide portion of the nipple nearly following the contour of the inside of such portion of the nipple outwardly of the neck of the bottle.

2. In combination with a wide-neck milk bottle and a baby nipple, a protecting member disposed between the top end of the bottle and the inside of the nipple comprising a flange-portion of a form to become, engaged between the nipple and the bottle when the nipple is placed over the top end of the bottle and having integral with the flange portion, a suitable number of sup porting and protecting bars for the nipple extending centrally and upwardly into the nipple nearly following the contour of the inside of the nipple outwardly of the neck of the bottle, said bars forming passages from the bottle tothe front point of the nipple.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

I LEON E. MARSH. Witnesses DE WITT E. SLOCUM, MARVIN S. MARSH. 

